Special Report

These Are the Counties in the Knoxville, TN Metro Area With the Least COVID-19

Samuel Stebbins

Published: September 26, 2021 5:30 am

With the ongoing surge of the delta variant, COVID-19 continues to spread through the United States. To date, 42,163,561 Americans have been infected with the virus — and 673,728 have died as a result. On a per capita basis, the U.S. has one of the highest known infections rates in the world.

In the Knoxville metropolitan area, located in Tennessee, a total of 139,264 COVID-19 cases have been reported to date. Adjusted for population, there have been 16,035 reported infections for every 100,000 people in the area — above the national rate of 12,887 cases per 100,000 people.

Though per capita cases of COVID-19 are higher in Knoxville than they are nationwide, some parts of the metro area are safer than others.

The broader Knoxville metro area comprises nine counties or county equivalents — and of them, Union County in Tennessee has the fewest COVID-19 cases per capita. So far, there have been a total of 2,709 infections in Union County, or 14,041 for every 100,000 people.

Though Union County has the lowest per capita infection rate in the Knoxville metro area, its per capita fatality rate is closely in line with the regional average.

There have been a total of 197 coronavirus-related deaths for every 100,000 people in Union County, compared to 188 COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 across the entire Knoxville metro area.

All COVID-19 data used in this story are current as of Sept. 23, 2021.

These are all the counties in Tennessee where COVID-19 is slowing (and where it’s still getting worse).